Welcome to the Winobloggers webpage! Students and professors from different universities meet to discuss their findings on Winogradsky columns they constructed!
We learn how to formulate hypotheses, observe, comment, ask and reply to questions related to our scientific experiments.

Winogradksy columns

'In the field of observation, chance only favors the prepared mind' Pasteur 1854

Blog posts

Wednesday, 8 April 2015

GROUP B2. UNIVERSITY OF CADIZ. FIRST POST.

Hello everybody!

We are a group of three students and we are starting our biotechnology degree
at University of Cádiz. We have a subject called microbiology, in which we go
to the lab and do some experiment. One of them is the Winogradsky column. Now,
we are going to tell to all of you a little bit of it.

We started this experiment more or less one month ago, exactly on
Tuesday, the 3rd of March. We had an empty plastic bottle in which
we added a mixture of things. First of all, we had two types of sand, one from
the beach and one from a river near our faculty called Río San Pedro. We added
a little bit of some chemical substances to them: CaSO4, FeSO4,
CaCO3, starch and pieces of paper. We full three quarters of the
bottle with this mixture and then, we added more or less four fingers of water

from the water tap.

12th March

This bottle should be placed, opened, near a window, in order to receive
sun light to help microorganisms grow up. During this month, the bottle has
been placed as it should all time, although during the second week,
accidentally, someone moved it to a dark room, so it spent three days in total
darkness and closed (it means, without oxygen).

8th April

We haven’t really noticed relevant changes during this month, that’s why
we haven’t written on the blog until today. Just a little change is that the
bottle has turned even blacker than it was on the beginning. Obviously, all the
water has been placed on the top of the bottle. No other colour has appeared on it.

However, we are still hopeful that changes will soon appear on our
experiment. We expect that many different colours will appear since we have
added many different components that are providing nourishment to bacteria.
There are many kinds of bacteria. One of the types eat sulphates, others iron,
other glucose (provided by starch and cellulose from paper). In addition,
bacteria will also be distinguished because the ones who consume oxygen
(aerobic) will be at the top and the ones who consume sulfhydryl acid n the bottom.

So, we expend next time we write to you, something has happened. Until
then, we will patiently wait. Have a good time!